I'm not saying boys and girls should learn about what happening to each other, it's easier for girls to learn egrets happening to their own bodies without boys around?

Maybe--I don't have any memory of learning about that in an all-female space though, except at home during the time when it was just my mom and sister and I. Which I think is when I learned most of "what to expect when you're older", I would have been about 6 or 7?

I don't know as it's easier or harder for the students, that was awhile ago. I do know that when my mom was attending a private, religious school, it was rather embarrassing for the young, fresh-out-of-seminary priest to be talking about periods

There were no women teachers?

There were nuns also, but there were apparently none available to teach about human biology. I suspect they didn't make the poor guy teach that class for long!

So, being the second generation to learn about puberty in mixed situations...I can see how in some ways it would be easier to learn about it in separate classes, however I don't think it should be this hugely mysterious thing either. If the classes are separated, boys still need to know what girls are going through and vice versa. I knew people whose classes were separated for that and they only ever learned about what they should expect, not what the other gender would be going through.

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, I know the twins sucked a stack out of me. They do check for it though so it's not usually a huge issue. Just don't take iron supplements with tea, it stops it being absorbed fully

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, I know the twins sucked a stack out of me. They do check for it though so it's not usually a huge issue. Just don't take iron supplements with tea, it stops it being absorbed fully

What about with coffee? is it the caffeine or are there specific tea properties that cause the iron to not absorb? I'm asking for purely personal and selfish reasons

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, I know the twins sucked a stack out of me. They do check for it though so it's not usually a huge issue. Just don't take iron supplements with tea, it stops it being absorbed fully

I never heard of that! I know there are some drugs where you have to avoid citrus, but I never heard of tea. Do you know what is in the tea that messes with absorption? Does it depend on the type of tea?

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, I know the twins sucked a stack out of me. They do check for it though so it's not usually a huge issue. Just don't take iron supplements with tea, it stops it being absorbed fully

I never heard of that! I know there are some drugs where you have to avoid citrus, but I never heard of tea. Do you know what is in the tea that messes with absorption? Does it depend on the type of tea?

Iron is LIKELY SAFE for most people when it is used appropriately. However, it can cause side effects including stomach upset and pain, constipation or diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Taking iron supplements with food seems to reduce some of these side effects. But food can also reduce how well the body absorbed iron. Iron should be taken on an empty stomach if possible. But if it causes too many side effects, it can be taken with food. Try to avoid taking it with foods containing dairy products, coffee, tea, or cereals.

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, I know the twins sucked a stack out of me. They do check for it though so it's not usually a huge issue. Just don't take iron supplements with tea, it stops it being absorbed fully

I never heard of that! I know there are some drugs where you have to avoid citrus, but I never heard of tea. Do you know what is in the tea that messes with absorption? Does it depend on the type of tea?

I have no idea actually. My midwife knew I don't drink coffee, just tea, so I don't know if it's just tea or caffeine. And you should take iron with vit c apparently, most supplements have if added.

It's that wonderful time of the year where I get to explain to the other adults at holiday gatherings that communism, socialism, fascism, anti-capitalism, dictatorships and liberalism are not interchangeable terms, that capitalism and democracy are not synonyms, and that yes, many, many other countries in the world other than the US are free, voting democracies.

Technically you don't get a period when taking the contraception pill, you get an artificial bleed that was specifically included by the manufactures because they thought women would be disturbed by the lack of periods when taking the pill. There are some types of contraceptive pill where there is no monthly bleed - many women, such as myself, take them for medical reasons just for that purpose.

Technically you don't get a period when taking the contraception pill, you get an artificial bleed that was specifically included by the manufactures because they thought women would be disturbed by the lack of periods when taking the pill. There are some types of contraceptive pill where there is no monthly bleed - many women, such as myself, take them for medical reasons just for that purpose.

Exactly. The contraceptive pill I take means I can control when I have my "period". I take the pill for 21 days, then I stop taking it for 7 days, during which I have my period. After the 7 days, I start taking the pill again. So no, I don't have my period while I'm on the pill - I have it when I go off the pill. I just happen to go back on it again after the 7 days.

But theoretically I could just keep taking the pill with no breaks, and I wouldn't have my period.

Technically you don't get a period when taking the contraception pill, you get an artificial bleed that was specifically included by the manufactures because they thought women would be disturbed by the lack of periods when taking the pill. There are some types of contraceptive pill where there is no monthly bleed - many women, such as myself, take them for medical reasons just for that purpose.

Exactly. The contraceptive pill I take means I can control when I have my "period". I take the pill for 21 days, then I stop taking it for 7 days, during which I have my period. After the 7 days, I start taking the pill again. So no, I don't have my period while I'm on the pill - I have it when I go off the pill. I just happen to go back on it again after the 7 days.

But theoretically I could just keep taking the pill with no breaks, and I wouldn't have my period.

That didn't work for me when I was on a 21-day pill. I could skip one period but if I continued taking it right through for a second month I got a period at the right time anyway.

I was referring to the 21-day pill above when I said you still get a period. The men in question believed that taking any kind of pill meant you got no bleeding at all. One of them also believed that when I took the first pill of the 21 after the 7 day break, the period I was having would stop instantly.

The "mini pill" (the one you take with no breaks) sometimes results in regular periods and sometimes results in no periods at all. For example, on Cerazette, 4 out of 10 women find their periods stop altogether.

The bleed you get when you take your seven day break using the contraceptive pill isn't a period though, it's something called a "withdrawal bleed." It's sort of splitting hairs, but technically it's different from an actual menstrual period. It's possible to take any kind of contraceptive pill without a break, but not advisable - there are certain types of contraceptive pills designed specifically for that purpose.

The other day I had to tell my sweet but socially clueless best friend that it's not acceptable to walk into a posh restaurant, order a tea, then bring out a takeaway pizza and start to chow down.

I was never told all through college about the pill-and-antibiotics thing. As it turns out, my uterus is about as fertile as a concrete sidewalk and I likely can't get pregnant without medical intervention but it would have been nice to know all those years I thought I was protected.

Sex ed in my high school (we got one hour of it, for one day, during 10th grade. I was already sexually active by then). Our biology teacher was 8 months pregnant but the lesson was almost right out of mean girls: only bad, sl#tty girls have sex before marriage.

I was also told that there are small holes in the condoms that are too small for sperm to get through but the HIV virus bits (whatever they're called) fit right through them so if you have sex with someone with HIV while wearing a condom, you are getting concentrated HIV. We girls were scowled at and basically told to stay virgins and that we should fear the penis.

This was in the late 1990s and I'm still amazed we didn't have more teen pregnancies.

On topic - I have not (yet) been pregnant and have never heard of the heavy bleed post-birth. Makes sense but as with everything else related to my reproduction, I was not informed at school and have had to learn via movies, TV, and Wikipedia/google. Anything I can't get at that point gets referred to the Doc-lady.

Here's one: in the past I've had trouble with iron deficiency and had to go on liver tablets (not nice at all) until I found a good supplement to help me. This was a while ago and since then I've become a blood donor and they test your iron levels just before you donate.

My mum had a bee in her bonnet that this might be an issue in my pregnancy. I said it might, it's something to keep an eye on but I pointed out that I'd been a blood donor and am taking pregnancy vitamins that also contain iron.

Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, I know the twins sucked a stack out of me. They do check for it though so it's not usually a huge issue. Just don't take iron supplements with tea, it stops it being absorbed fully

I never heard of that! I know there are some drugs where you have to avoid citrus, but I never heard of tea. Do you know what is in the tea that messes with absorption? Does it depend on the type of tea?

I have no idea actually. My midwife knew I don't drink coffee, just tea, so I don't know if it's just tea or caffeine. And you should take iron with vit c apparently, most supplements have if added.

From what I understand, it is the tannins in tea that can cause problems. I don't think coffee has any.

Logged

You are only young once. After that you have to think up some other excuse.